New Defiance Action ... Lord Have Mercy
- Thread starter dtucker
- Start date
butchlambert
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I feel better Dan.
butchlambert
Site $$ Sponsor
rich44,
You are correct.
You are correct.
Fellas, their are lots of actions out their being made. We are living in the age of a lot of fine barrels and fine actions being made on some of the best equiptment. Honestly it would be hard to pick a dud. I am not partial to 1 barrel maker or action maker nor have i ever been 1 to only buy a Ford. 
The thing i love about my hobby is i have the option to choose from many fine barrel makers and fine action builders not to mention the long list of fine and talented gun smiths who build these for us. Over the last 25 years of having rifles built i can say i have not had 1 problem and they all have been shooters. I like using different makers as much as i like shooting and as much as i like reloading. This is a wonderful hobby with a bunch of super people. Through this hobby i have met and talked with some of the best people i know. OK, it is early and i need to go get my extra strong coffee to get the mind cleared up for the day. ;D
The thing i love about my hobby is i have the option to choose from many fine barrel makers and fine action builders not to mention the long list of fine and talented gun smiths who build these for us. Over the last 25 years of having rifles built i can say i have not had 1 problem and they all have been shooters. I like using different makers as much as i like shooting and as much as i like reloading. This is a wonderful hobby with a bunch of super people. Through this hobby i have met and talked with some of the best people i know. OK, it is early and i need to go get my extra strong coffee to get the mind cleared up for the day. ;DRecently completed a couple of hunting rigs on Defiance Rebel actions - I thought they were a little pricey, at $1345 ea, and was surprised at the items they charged out as options, like $35 for the mag well size, $30 for a plunger ejector, etc. Bare action base price was $1000, so there were $345 worth of "options" on each action, though that did include a very nice steel 20 MOA scope rail & .250" thick recoil lug with pins.
Guess it seemed like a lot to pay for a M700 clone, since I'm used to seeing lower prices from Stiller & Pierce for what appeared to be pretty much the same sort of actions. When I quizzed the folks at Defiance about their pricing, they told me that what they really wanted to do was sell a minimum number of 25 actions, branded with the customer's company name, and give a discounted (don't recall the % of the discount) price. I'm not interested in that sort of a deal - don't have the customer base to make it work, and certainly wasn't going to invest that much $$$ without getting a hands-on look at the actions first. However, after having these two actions in hand while barreling them, I can see why someone with a large customer base would find it advantageous to work with Defiance. They are nice actions, and very well finished. Why buy a bare Rem M700 and true it when you can have a true custom action with your company's name on it?
Whatever - that's what the customers wanted, so that's what I ordered. When the actions arrived, the appearance was just as fine as the photos on their website, and running the bolts in both was very slick/smooth. I had no issues while fitting barrels, but did have a problem when it came to getting a Jewell HVR to work in one of them. The sear wouldn't release in that action; I tried both of the Jewells I had in stock for this project in the action, and both worked fine in the other action.
Got out a Timney, and it worked like a charm. The trigger slot in that action didn't seem to be any tighter than the other action's slot, so I'm still not sure what was wrong. Time was short, with a scheduled elk hunt in just a couple of days, so I adjusted the Timney to the owner's preference and left it on that rifle. He's been more than pleased with the Timney, so I guess I'll just make a price adjustment for the less expensive trigger and leave it alone.
Guess it seemed like a lot to pay for a M700 clone, since I'm used to seeing lower prices from Stiller & Pierce for what appeared to be pretty much the same sort of actions. When I quizzed the folks at Defiance about their pricing, they told me that what they really wanted to do was sell a minimum number of 25 actions, branded with the customer's company name, and give a discounted (don't recall the % of the discount) price. I'm not interested in that sort of a deal - don't have the customer base to make it work, and certainly wasn't going to invest that much $$$ without getting a hands-on look at the actions first. However, after having these two actions in hand while barreling them, I can see why someone with a large customer base would find it advantageous to work with Defiance. They are nice actions, and very well finished. Why buy a bare Rem M700 and true it when you can have a true custom action with your company's name on it?
Whatever - that's what the customers wanted, so that's what I ordered. When the actions arrived, the appearance was just as fine as the photos on their website, and running the bolts in both was very slick/smooth. I had no issues while fitting barrels, but did have a problem when it came to getting a Jewell HVR to work in one of them. The sear wouldn't release in that action; I tried both of the Jewells I had in stock for this project in the action, and both worked fine in the other action.
Got out a Timney, and it worked like a charm. The trigger slot in that action didn't seem to be any tighter than the other action's slot, so I'm still not sure what was wrong. Time was short, with a scheduled elk hunt in just a couple of days, so I adjusted the Timney to the owner's preference and left it on that rifle. He's been more than pleased with the Timney, so I guess I'll just make a price adjustment for the less expensive trigger and leave it alone.
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